WSJ: The best day to buy airline tickets.
Oct 23, 2014, 8:43 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA/AA
Posts: 1,741
WSJ: The best day to buy airline tickets.
The prime time to find airfares has changed. How early does the lowest price pop up? New data shows exactly what the best day to buy an airline ticket is.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-b...ets-1413999377
http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-b...ets-1413999377
Oct 24, 2014, 12:28 am
#2
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: LAS HNL
Programs: DL DM, 5.7 MM, UA 3.1 MM, MARRIOTT PLATINUM, AVIS FIRST, Amex Black Card
Posts: 4,479
Good article and stats, but it lacks refundable vs non-refundable fares. It also does not state which carries are included in the study. I would guess Allegiant, Sun Country, Frontier and Spirit are not included.
Overall good article. WSJ ^
Overall good article. WSJ ^
Oct 24, 2014, 10:26 am
#5
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: 10023-Central Park West
Programs: CHASE UNITED CLUB; CITI PRESTIGE； IHG SPIRE AMBASSADOR; RITZ-CARLTON GOLD; Global Entry
Posts: 227
Conclusion is wrong. Very useful info though.
As it was showed in the article, the lowest price tickets happened to be
bought on Sundays because the cheapskates have sufficient time on Sundays to search for the cheapest possible tickets. While people don't have a lot of time on work days, so they didn't find best deals. For people
who don't have anything better to do regardless which day of week, it
might be better off buying tickets on Tuesday.
bought on Sundays because the cheapskates have sufficient time on Sundays to search for the cheapest possible tickets. While people don't have a lot of time on work days, so they didn't find best deals. For people
who don't have anything better to do regardless which day of week, it
might be better off buying tickets on Tuesday.
Oct 24, 2014, 2:48 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: MR/SPG LT Titanium, AA LT PLT, UA SLV, Avis PreferredPlus
Posts: 31,004
Leisure travelers buy $300 tix on Sunday and no business travelers buy $800 tix.
Business travelers buy $700 tix on Monday and no leisure travelers buy $200 tix.
Sunday = $300
Monday = $700
Sunday is best.
Bzzzzzt, thanks for playing, better luck next time.
Cr@ppy statistical analysis with false assumptions (pricing of sold tickets = pricing for all available tickets), IMHO.
Business travelers buy $700 tix on Monday and no leisure travelers buy $200 tix.
Sunday = $300
Monday = $700
Sunday is best.
Bzzzzzt, thanks for playing, better luck next time.
Cr@ppy statistical analysis with false assumptions (pricing of sold tickets = pricing for all available tickets), IMHO.
Oct 25, 2014, 9:14 pm
#7
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 66
True, but it's much tougher to obtain data on the prices of *available* tickets. But the prices of *sold* tickets are easily obtained because the historical transactions are saved in the server.
Oct 25, 2014, 9:33 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: LAS HNL
Programs: DL DM, 5.7 MM, UA 3.1 MM, MARRIOTT PLATINUM, AVIS FIRST, Amex Black Card
Posts: 4,479
The best day to buy tickets was on 12/26/2013 on DL. I scored many great tips all in FC. I heard the programmer got the boot, so perhaps no luck this year.
Aloha.
Aloha.
Oct 26, 2014, 9:55 am
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: HH Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 10,458
As it was showed in the article, the lowest price tickets happened to be
bought on Sundays because the cheapskates have sufficient time on Sundays to search for the cheapest possible tickets. While people don't have a lot of time on work days, so they didn't find best deals. For people
who don't have anything better to do regardless which day of week, it
might be better off buying tickets on Tuesday.
bought on Sundays because the cheapskates have sufficient time on Sundays to search for the cheapest possible tickets. While people don't have a lot of time on work days, so they didn't find best deals. For people
who don't have anything better to do regardless which day of week, it
might be better off buying tickets on Tuesday.
That said, one mitigating factor is that airlines run their revenue optimization algorithms over the weekend, which tends to open up seats on lower demand flights. For Tuesday and Wednesday flights, that's when the airlines tend to run sales/specials.
Oct 26, 2014, 9:57 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: HH Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 10,458
Leisure travelers buy $300 tix on Sunday and no business travelers buy $800 tix.
Business travelers buy $700 tix on Monday and no leisure travelers buy $200 tix.
Sunday = $300
Monday = $700
Sunday is best.
Bzzzzzt, thanks for playing, better luck next time.
Cr@ppy statistical analysis with false assumptions (pricing of sold tickets = pricing for all available tickets), IMHO.
Business travelers buy $700 tix on Monday and no leisure travelers buy $200 tix.
Sunday = $300
Monday = $700
Sunday is best.
Bzzzzzt, thanks for playing, better luck next time.
Cr@ppy statistical analysis with false assumptions (pricing of sold tickets = pricing for all available tickets), IMHO.
Oct 26, 2014, 12:52 pm
#11
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 66
The only way to address this is to consider a random sample of representative itineraries. Then each day (say, one or even two years prior to the departure date), someone (or the computer) makes a price search on each one of those itineraries and records the available prices. As you can see, this is not simple to do.
Nov 2, 2014, 12:28 am
#12
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: BRU
Posts: 290
Which systems allow you to book airline tickets 2 years prior to the departure date?
Nov 2, 2014, 7:35 am
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: AA EXP/LTP, BA GGL/CCR/GfL, HH D/LTD, SPG/MR Plat/LTP
Posts: 10,075
Looking back on which day I have made the best deals on international tickets, it's almost equal among them, at least during the last four years. Monday just slightly lower than the others.
Nov 8, 2014, 5:24 am
#15
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 51
October is generally a very quiet month for sales in the travel industry, so there are great prices to be had there. I don't agree that there is a particular day of the week to get better fares however. Working In travel and viewing the behind the scenes reality of the industry, I would simply suggest getting to know you airline booking classes and 'on sale' periods. It's the travellers who know this that get the best prices.